


Out of Control

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: The Red Paladin's Double [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Gen, Keith gets injured, Lance Almost Drowns, Shiana has a boyfriend?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 01:16:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9297782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Lots of things happen, first and foremost, the red paladin gets kidnapped, the paladins are captured.





	1. Kidnapped

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, I've been waiting a long time for this

“Hey, Shiana, what are these?” Lance gently touched the tiny braids woven in Shiana’s hair. She slapped his hand away gently.

            “Don’t touch! They are symbols of mourning on my planet. Every time a close friend or family member dies, you put a braid in your hair. At least, the girls do. Boys only do it if they have long hair. If not, they find other ways, such as tattoos or beads or jewelry.”

            “Who do yours stand for?” Shiana lowered her head.

            “My father,” she touched a braid. “My mother, my best friend and my b- my planet.” Lance noted the b and wondered what she had been going to say. She stood up and stretched. “Want to play chicken?” Lance jumped up.

            “You betcha! Usual wager?”

            “Yep! Prepare to shut your mouth for a week!” They charged into the ocean. Normally when they played chicken Lance ended up struggling against a current, while Shiana slipped into one going the way she wanted. But not this time. This time Lance was going to slip into the current with her and then his natural swimming skills would dominate. He followed her into her current and realized, with some dread that she had picked one that pushed back to shore. She laughed and rolled out of it, swimming into a current going the opposite direction.

            “I’ll get you for this!” he yelled, laughing. He struggled against the current, growling at her good naturedly. She shrieked with laughter. The current ended very far out at sea. Shiana bobbed up and down next to him.

            “Ready to give up yet?”

            “Never! Blue is counting on me! I can’t agree that the red lion is better than her for _another_ week!” She laughed, before disappearing underwater in a whirl of bubbles. He waited for her to come back up, concerned when she didn’t. He ducked under.

            Shiana was struggling against a giant octopus looking monster. It had her in one of its tentacles and her gloves weren’t forming fast enough. Lance pulled on it with all his strength, but it smacked him across the head with a free tentacle in a whirl of bubbles.

            Yes! The gloves had finally worked! She would have to fix the water resistance later. She almost cursed when she saw she had no darts left, but she remembered she couldn’t let out air. She looked for Lance. He was obviously disoriented, swimming in circles. Uh-oh.

            Keith squinted at the horizon. Normally Shiana and Lance would be back by now, with Lance flopped on the beach, exhausted, and Shiana crowing triumphantly. So why weren’t they? Some instinct told him that there was trouble, and if there was one thing Keith was good at, it was following instinct. He grabbed his bayard and waded into the ocean.

            Shiana looked at her useless gloves, frustrated. Well, not entirely useless… No. Shiana would not risk electrifying Lance and herself. The octopus smacked Lance again as he swam woozily nearby. He sank like a stone. The monster drew her closer, squeezing tighter. She could feel the air rushing out of her lungs. Desperately, she put her hands on the octopus and fired an electrical blast. She nearly blacked out herself, but she maintained consciousness long enough to swim to the surface after the octopus released her, withdrawing to the depths. She took two lungs full of air before diving back down to look for Lance. She saw nothing but blackness. Where was Lance? There! She spotted him, still sinking. She frantically kicked towards him, catching his arm and propelling herself up with him. She treaded water, swimming in circles, looking for the shore, her arms wrapped around Lance’s chest. Curse her own cleverness! Why did she have to go out so far with the current? Her ribs ached, and she was sure that a couple of them were cracked. She couldn’t support them both for long.

            “Shiana!” was that Keith? “Lance!” It was!

            “Keith,” Shiana half shouted, half sobbed with relief, “We’re over here! Lance isn’t doing so great.” Keith’s dark head bobbed towards them. Shiana sighed in relief when Lance’s weight was pulled from her. She followed Keith, not caring where they were going. He dragged Lance onto a rock jutting out of the ocean. Shiana dragged herself onto it, lying down, just glad to be alive. Keith started pumping on Lance’s chest.

            Lance was floating. He was there, but not quite completely. And someone was pushing him in the chest, hard. He didn’t like it. He heard a girl’s voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

            “You’re doing it wrong.” A grumpy boy’s voice sounded next.

            “No, I’m not.”

            “Yes, you are.”

            “Look, who went to military school, me or you?”

            “You, but you also lived in the middle of the desert.”

            “I promise you, this is how you do CPR.”

            “No, you have to do the breathy thing.”

            “I am _not_ mouth-to-mouthing Lance.”

            “He’ll probably die if you don’t.”

            “Why don’t you do it if you’re so concerned?”

            “Ew, no.” Silence. The girl’s voice started again.

            “So, we’re just going to let the blue paladin die because we’re too wimpy to mouth-to-mouth?”

            “Yup.” Silence again.

            “Try pushing harder.” The pressure increased slightly.

            “Oh, let me try.” Whoever was pushing moved, or was moved. Something hit him in the stomach, then the chest, _hard._  Lance sat up abruptly, throwing up sea water.

            “Oh, that is gross,” remarked Shiana, and then, “Told you you were doing it wrong.”

            “No, I wasn’t” Keith replied, “You just did it wrong, but somehow it worked.”

            “Which means I did it right.”

            “No… Argh! Stop being so contradictory!”

            “You’re the one who’s saying that the right way is ineffective and the wrong way is effective.”

            “Okay, lovebirds, what is going on here?” Both of them shut up and glared at him instead. Lance was glad. He was supposed to argue with Keith. Not Shiana. She was supposed to try to stop fights and get along great with Keith.

            “You almost drowned. We were attacked by an underwater Robeast.” The Robeast, of course, took this time to leap out of the water and attack them.

            “Shiana, look out!” The Robeast grabbed her by the ankle and whipped her into the air, its other tentacles trying to shove Lance and Keith away. Keith activated his bayard and started slicing.

            “Keith! Lance! Help!” Keith turned from his work to see Shiana being dangled closer to a compartment in the Robeast’s skin. He roared and springboarded off of one tentacle, ready to slice the one holding Shiana. In midair, a tentacle smacked into his chest, hard, and he went slamming back into the rock, Lance grabbing his arm before he could slide into the water Keith wobbled to his feet, ready to jump back in the fray. The Robeast had succeeded in putting her into its compartment, and Lance grabbed Keith’s arm.

            “Keith, there’s nothing we can do, it’ll just drown us.” True to Lance’s word, the Robeast had slid underwater, taking Shiana with it. Keith struggled against Lance’s iron grip.

            “Let me go! Gotta kill… Gotta rescue her…” Lance poked him gently in the ribs, and he hissed in pain.

            “Uh-huh, no. You have some broken ribs, and probably a concussion with your luck. The only place we are going is back to the ship to get help and you in a cyro pod.” Keith tried to resist, but Lance stood firm. He wondered why Lance was so strong after being nearly drowned, before realizing it was probably just his own weakness. Why was everything spinning?

            “Whoa there, Mullet.” Was Lance supporting him? “Oh, yeah, you got a concussion alright. Possibly serious brain damage. He hit you pretty hard, huh?  Hold on. You just sit on this rock while I get help.” Lance sat Keith down gently before he dived back in the ocean. Keith frowned. Was Lance going somewhere? Probably. He’d been going to… to… to help? To help who? Keith was supposed to do something. What was it? Oh, yes. Sit on this rock. He could do that.  He could sit on this rock. He would sit on this rock until the world ended, if need be.

            Keith didn’t know when he’d fallen asleep, but he woke from a cyro sleep and nearly fell on top of Allura. She steadied him with surprisingly strong hands. Although, she _had_ thrown Shiro across a room, so he didn’t know why he was surprised.

            “Keith, are you alright?”

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He pushed a wayward lock of hair out of his face. “What’s going on?”

            “We were waiting for you to wake up before we decided what to do about Shiana.” She watched his face anxiously, as if expecting him to fly into a rage. Then everything came rushing back to him. The Robeast, the rock, Shiana captured, him helpless to do anything, getting slammed into a rock. His fault.

            “Sire, the mind reader was captured, as per your order. The ship that caught her is heading this way.” Zarkon smiled. He would relish breaking her.

            “THREE DAYS?!?!”

            “Keith, calm down.”

            “I’VE BEEN OUT FOR THREE DAYS?! SHE COULD BE ANYWHERE! ZARKON COULD ALREADY HAVE HER! A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN THREE DAYS!” Keith dropped into a seat, head in hands. Three days. _Three days_ in cyro sleep while Shiana was carried off to be experimented on, or forced to fight in the arena.

            “If you would _listen_ , you would know that we have been on their trail for three days as well. It isn’t too late. They are still a week away from Zarkon. There _is_ a reason I picked that planet for a day off. It is _very_ far away from Zarkon’s command center.” He looked up, filled with hope.

            “What are we waiting for? Let’s go get her!”

            Shiana could hear the sounds of the battle raging closer to her. Her teammates were near! They could rescue her. After her first attempt to escape on her own… She shuddered. She wouldn’t be trying _that_ again. She pressed her face to the bars. A shame there were so many robots between her and her rescuers.

            “Lance!” she shouted when the blue paladin came into her line of vision, “Keys!” Lance yanked the keys off of their hook and threw them over the heads of all the robots. Shiana caught them with her mouth and drew them back into her cage where she set to work unlocking her manacles. By the time she finished and walked out the door the other paladins had arrived, and the robots were destroyed.   
            “Come on, we have to go!” Lance grabbed her wrist to pull her away, but she hissed in pain and drew it to her chest. Lance’s eyes met hers and he gently pried her hand away and slowly pulled up her hoodie sleeve. A sharp intake. Her wrists had sores and cuts and bruises all over them. Caused by manacles, and treatment that had made her struggle against them. He noticed all the other bruises and cuts on her face and arms. He, Keith and Shiro all looked at each other and were united in one feeling. Pure hatred. Without even agreeing out loud the three paladins turned and ran off to find the commander.

            Shiana’s eyes filled with tears she was holding back. Hunk swept her up into his arms like a baby and she cried into his shoulder. He didn’t mind. Shiana was safe, and that was all that mattered. They would get out of here, as soon as the other three paladins were back.

            Shiro bellowed at the Galra. If Shiana started having nightmares, and PTSD problems, he swore he would track down Zarkon and rip him apart with his bare hands. She was a nice, happy, bubbly girl, who saw everyone as a potential friend, and if Zarkon had changed that about her…

            Keith didn’t care. He just didn’t care about watching himself. He charged right in and smashed stuff, he didn’t keep himself from doing anything reckless, he just destroyed and destroyed. He wasn’t sure if he was destroying for himself or for Shiana, but that didn’t matter, as long as it was all gone, everything that hurt his friend, partner, pilot, sister.

            Lance shot one Galra after another, not caring if they were robots or not, he just had a savage desire to kill, to destroy what had hurt his teammate and friend, no, friend was not strong enough, friend was what Shay was, and any of the other aliens he had grown attached to. Shiana was family. She was his little sister, and if anything hurt her, he would make it pay. And that was how he got captured.

            “Paladins of Voltron!” a face appeared on the screens built in the walls. “If you do not surrender yourselves to me, I will destroy the blue paladin!” In the screen next to him was Lance. With a gun to his head.


	2. Count Your Blessings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo, this chapter is evil. lots of hurt and comfort. It makes me sad, and I'm writing it. Kind of Keith-centric, but the rest of them are just kind of lounging around in cells right now, so whatever.

Keith paced the cell like a caged tiger. They had caught them so easily. It wasn’t fair. They had threatened Lance, whose weapon didn’t work so great if they snuck up behind him, and the rest of them had rolled over. Not fair, not fair. Why would the Galra be _fair_? They were never _fair_. Why would they start now? Keith should’ve been there, back to back with Shiro and Lance, not off being reckless and smashing everything in sight.

            “Would you please stop that? You’re giving me a headache just watching you.” Oh, that was one good thing. They were all together now, if in different cells. They had been put two per cell and he was with Shiana. That was also good.

            _Count your blessings, Keith, not your disadvantages._ His mother’s words, so comforting, even when she was dying in that hospital bed.

            _Count your blessings my little star child. What is good?_

_The fact that you are alive right now, that the nurses are nice, that I’ll remember you, that I ever had you._

_Good. Just keep counting your blessings. Promise me you’ll never stop. Promise me that, Keith._

_I promise._ Keith sighed and flopped down next to her, knees hugged to his chest. She was sitting in her cross-legged position that she normally used when reading all the minds on a ship. Which was probably what she was doing right now. The door opened and they both scrambled to their feet, Keith pushing Shiana behind him slightly. The Galra command robot pointed at Shiana.

            “That one is to be brought to the arena.”

            “No.” That one word, that one simple word, spoken softly but full of anger stopped the robot in his tracks.

            “What?”

            “I. Said. No.” Keith walked right up to the commander. “You aren’t taking her to the arena. You aren’t taking her anywhere. You are leaving her right here with me, and you will get your tin hide out of here before I destroy it.” Spoken so matter-of-factly, and yet so frightening.

            “Excuse me? That is not to be tolerated from a slave of the great and glorious Galra Empire!” He slapped Keith across the face with the metal hand not on his weapon. Keith spat out blood. Then he calmly reached over and ripped the commander’s head right off of his body. The headless robot’s body sparked and collapsed. Keith dropped the decapitated head. The other robots swarmed him. He didn’t care. He just looked at Shiana. Shiana, who he was doing this willingly for. He would rather fight in the arena himself then put her through whatever it was that had broken Shiro, the strongest person Keith had ever met. Shiana, who the robots had to hold back as they forced him to his knees and dragged him away. For her. His best friend, besides the red lion. He would do it again in a heartbeat.

            Shiana was alone. Again. No, no, no, no, no, no. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t be alone again, she couldn’t, she would snap, she couldn’t help it, no. She put her head in her hands, trying not to think of the terrible things that could happen to Keith, to any of them. A comforting presence… slipped into her. Her mother. Here, alive, trying to comfort her baby girl, even though she was cells away. Another presence. Oh. Oh! She wanted to scream with happiness. _He_ was here!

            The Galra handed Keith some kind of sword-thing, which he gripped nervously. They shoved him out into the arena along with another reluctant slave. They began to spar, the alien attacking, Keith mostly blocking, not wanting to hurt him.

            “You don’t have to do this.”

            “Yes, I do! If I don’t, I’ll die! You’ll kill me!”

            “No, I promise you I won’t. I want to get out of here as much as you do. If we both stop fighting, what are they going to do? They can punish us both, but the damage will be done. If we just don’t fight, what will they do?” The alien hesitated, his decision finished by the fact that Keith didn’t attack in his hesitation. A determined nod.

            “Okay.” Keith set his weapon on the floor as the alien did the same. He smiled at his former opponent, who hesitantly smiled back. He took a step back from the weapon and a hush fell over the crowd. Keith’s smile grew. It was working. A flash of movement made him jerk away by reflex, which probably saved his life. The alien lunged forward and sliced into his arm. He screamed, leaping away, clutching the wound as the crowd went wild. The alien had tears in his eyes.

            “I’m sorry, so sorry, you seem nice, but he’ll kill my family if I don’t fight. That’s what’ll happen. You asked, and that’s the answer. That is what he’ll do.” He lunged again. Keith sidestepped and let him stumble forward, not caring about him, just his own weapon, lying forgotten in the dust, and his own pain. He couldn’t move his left arm. Why couldn’t he move his left arm? How deep was this cut? The alien had regained his balance and was charging again. Keith dove for the sword, grabbed it and swung around with it, stabbing blindly. It sheathed itself in a surprised opponent’s chest. He blinked at Keith, while Keith stared him right in the face, as surprised as if he was the one with a sword in his gut. He pulled the sword out, and the alien collapsed. The alien. Keith hadn’t even known his name. There was blood on his sword. Why was there blood on his sword? Green blood, dead blood. Living blood flowing from his arm. So much blood.

The shock of what had happened, of what _he_ had done caught up to him. He’d killed someone. In self-defense, sure, but his opponent had been in the same situation, just trying to survive the arena. He had had a _family._ And Keith had killed him. Just put a sword in his chest. Everything was silent. The cheering of the Galra, the clanking of chains as the Galra robots released a slavering animal, all distant, background noise. Then the beast ran up. Instead of going straight for Keith directly, it stopped near the body and opened its mouth to take a bite. Keith screamed. No way would he let that body be destroyed. He had been a living, sentient person and did not deserve to be eaten by a monster. He raked his sword across its side and it turned to face him. The battle was a blur, but by the end the monster lay dead as well. Two bodies in the arena, two once living things that had died, because of him. How many more would die because of him?

Shiana simply sat, her mother with her. Then, just as suddenly as she had come, she was gone. The cell door opened and a robot threw Keith in. He crashed into a wall with a groan and simply lay there, a crumpled mess. The robot made a laughing noise and disappeared. Shiana scrambled to her friend. She turned him over and sucked in, a sharp intake. There was a huge cut on his arm, deep, almost to the bone. She touched it gently and he groaned.

“Shh, hey Keith? I’m going to see what I can do about this, OK?” a disoriented nod.

“Shiana?”

“Yes?”

“I… I killed someone. He’s dead, and I killed him. He had a family. I don’t think… I can’t do it again. I can’t. I can’t!” His voice had risen and he was panicked. This was what Shiana had feared. Not injury, she could heal him from injury, but the emotional wreck that he would become from that experience. Something she couldn’t quite understand, because he had protected her from it. This could have been her. She could’ve been the one shivering on the floor, insecure and afraid.

“You don’t understand, Shiana! I killed him! He’s not coming back, he’s gone!” his voice was hysterical and agitated and it broke, and he started to sob.

“He’s dead.” Shiana gathered him into her lap, holding him like a little child.

“Shhh, I know, I know. Tell me something good. Tell me, what did you do? Did you let anything happen to the body?” _Count your blessings_.

“N-no.”

“You did everything right, Keith. There was nothing you could do for him. Now, will you let me look at your arm?” a shuddering breath.

“Yes.” _Count your blessings, don’t stop. Promise me. I promise. I promise. I’ve got Shiana, I’m alive, his people got his body, it wasn’t destroyed. Count your blessings._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was kind of Keith's turning point, when he went from full on rage of revenge to the quiet anger of protection. cool character development.


	3. Possible Allies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this chapter emotionally hurts me! But we meet Zan! Ah, Zan, I love Zan.

Shiana looked at the cut. It was a good thing she had a tiny medical kit that was always in her pocket, even when she was at the beach. She pulled it out and threaded the needle. Keith had fallen unconscious. Good. He wouldn’t try to move while she fixed his arm. She steeled herself to touch the wound before she pinched the skin together and stitched it up, as carefully as she could, as fast as she could, trying to ignore his whimpers. She now had a newfound respect for Shiro, who had gone through this without a friend to help him. All by himself. It was no wonder he had nightmares. Speaking of which, she hadn’t checked to see if he was having nightmares and immediately felt awful for not doing so. He had been captured by the Galra, his onetime masters, of course he would have nightmares. Probably had drudged up memories that should have stayed buried. She checked on Keith’s breathing and then extended her mind to find the black paladin’s. She found him. She was right. He was in the middle of getting his metal arm attached. Again. His subconscious loved torturing him with that one. She held his hand and he looked to her. She molded his dreamscape to her will, all the paladins on the beach again, laughing and splashing each other. Keith waved to Shiro and a grin split his face as he waved back and ran to the fun. Shiana pulled out of his mind. She could hear voices as she pulled out.

“…Came and got you as soon as it started, she just sat down, scrunched up her face and suddenly it was like she wasn’t there anymore.”

“Good, good. You did the right thing. I always wanted her to do something so I could study what she was like when she was in someone else.” A metal rod poked her wrist and she opened her eyes with a yelp. The scientist who had studied her before smiled.

“Ah, so she responds to touch. Interesting.” Shiana shrank away as he reached with the rod again. There was a crash, and the doctor stumbled away, clutching his head. Keith was sitting up, his arm outstretched. He had thrown a cup at the doctor.

“Get. Out.” he snarled, eyes full of hate, “Before I smash your head in.” The doctor froze for a moment.

“Interesting. The hybrid seems to have grown an attachment, a sort of adoption. None of the others did this.” He tried to poke at Keith. Keith grabbed the stick and snapped it in half before throwing both halves at him.

“Call me hybrid again, or Shiana _she_ , and act like we’re just _specimens_ again, and I will destroy you, no matter how many robots and cell walls are between us. Understand?” His voice was a low growl, and even the Galra soldier looked scared. The doctor nodded, terrified and scrambled away, shooting him a look that very clearly said he hoped Keith died in the arena so that he could dissect his remains, along with the Galra soldier who continued his rounds. Keith laid back down, exhausted from the effort. Shiana hugged him, careful of his arm.

“Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hate that guy! Always with needles and blood tests and trying to get me to use my powers so he can study what it’s like, like not bloody likely doc!” Keith detached himself from her hug.

“No problem. My pleasure, really. I probably would have been his next test subject anyway.”

“So! Anyway, how does your arm feel?” She blew a strand of hair out of her face. “I stitched it up, but you know, I don’t want it to get infected.  I _know_ I didn’t wash my hands, I am ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain that needle was not sterilized and one-hundred percent certain that sword wasn’t either.”  Keith blinked, his sluggish mind trying to process her thought process.

“Um, fine, I guess. Hurts, but, you know, it was sliced up and then stitched back up by a teenager with a tiny medical kit. Hurting is expected.” He laid back down and closed his eyes.

“mmm. You go to sleep, ‘kay? If you’re going to heal you need rest.” Keith didn’t hear her. He was already asleep.

“Up!” A bright light shone in Shiana’s eyes and she shielded them while checking on Keith. She felt the area around the wound. Not good. It was swollen and hot. Not good. Infection.

“I said up! You’re fighting in the arena today, paladin.” Shiana got up.

“You can’t take him to the arena, he’s got an infection from the last time he was there!”

“Don’t care. Up!” He nudged Keith gently with his foot.

“No. I’m his doctor, and I say he’s not going anywhere until this arm heals.”  He cuffed her on the head, but not hard.

“Don’t speak to me like that, girl!” All of the shouting had woken Keith up and he was watching the argument confusedly. He tried to protest when the soldier hit Shiana, but his tongue was heavy. She popped right back up.

“No. I am done taking orders from you soldiers and robots and whatnot. I’m drawing the line here. Out! Out, out, out! There are sick people in here who need rest, and they are going to get it if I have to fight the whole Galra Empire to get it for them.” She shooed the surprised soldier out of the cell and closed the door. He tried to get back in, but she held it closed.

“No! you are _not_ taking my right to stay in this cell if I so please. What are you going to punish me for? _Not_ escaping?”

“Oh, come on,” he yelled, “Let me in! I’m sorry I hit you!”

“No!”

“Please? Come on, I’ll lose my job!”

“Your job is stupid anyway!” The Galra considered that for a moment.

“Granted, but I’m on rock bottom. If I lose this job I’ll be ejected into space, because obviously I can’t do anything right.” Shiana stopped for a moment.

“Really? You guys have a messed up job system.”

“Tell me about it.” Silence.

“What’s your name?”

“Zan’ ell. Yours?”

“Shiana. Nice to meet you. Okay, Zan… Zan… can I just call you Zan?

“Sure.”

“Ok, Zan, what were your exact orders? Maybe we can work around them.”

“Go to cell one-fifteen. Bring the hybrid paladin to the arena.”

“OK. Well, I’m a hybrid, I’m a paladin, I assume I’m in cell one fifteen.”

“Correct.”

“Take me instead. They can’t complain if you followed orders.”

“That doesn’t seem to solve the problem.”

“Sure it does! I just don’t want _Keith_ in the arena right now. I’m fine with it”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Zan. Stop worrying.”

“ok…” Zan unlocked the cell. Shiana felt a little guilty for almost losing him his job, and his life. He didn’t look to be much older than her, certainly not older than Shiro. He marched her to the arena, and she went with her head held high.

“What is this?” Shiana held her chin up.

“I’m the hybrid paladin from cell one-fifteen. I’m here to fight in the arena.” The command Galra turned to Zan.

“You _idiot_! I wanted the other one!” Zan slumped. Poor Zan. She was still about to cost him his life anyway, despite her best efforts. Unless she blatantly lied. Eh, sure, why not? It wasn’t like she could get in any more trouble.

 Shiana stepped forward. “It wasn’t his fault. I mind tricked him. He saw Keith, not me.”

“Silence.” He turned to Zan. “I will deal with you later. Go to your barracks and stay there until I tell you otherwise. You,” he spoke to a robot nearby, “Take this one back and get the other one.” Zan drooped and trudged out of the room.

“Yes sir,” he said dejectedly at the same time the robot said it in his crisp mechanical voice.

“No! He’s injured, and the injury is infected! You can’t do this to him!”

“Well, either he fights now, or we determine his arm is not savable and replace it with a metal one.”

“Yeah, I’ll fight.” Keith’s voice quietly sounded behind her. The commander jumped.

“How did you get out of your cell and in here?” Keith shrugged.

“The guard left the door open.”

“ZAN’ ELL!” the Galra commander yelled as loud as he could.

“Sorry sir!” came the distant reply from the hall. Shiana bit back a grin before turning on Keith.

“Keith, what are you _doing?_ You could’ve escaped!” He snorted.

“Not likely.” The Galra commander cleared his throat significantly.

“Ahem. I am still here. Sentry, take the female back to her cell.”

“Yes sir.” The sentry pulled Shiana away, having to drag her by the collar, her arms crossed, since she had sat down to avoid being pulled. Keith watched her go, before a different sentry grabbed him, shoved a weapon in his hand and pushed him through the door. He sighed, mentally preparing himself for the killing of the arena.

Keith stopped, breathing hard, yet another opponent lying dead in the sand. Luckily they had mostly sent in animals, so he didn’t feel too bad, but he still hated it. How many had he killed now? He didn’t feel too good. His arm was throbbing. The Galra shoved his next opponent in. His memory flashed back when he saw her face. Pointy ears, the glint of a knife as a Galra threatened to cut her throat. Shiana’s mother. Her face was terrified, scared of what he’d do to her. His sword fell with a clatter to the ground. He walked slowly towards her and set a hand on her shoulder. She flinched.

“I promise, I promise on the grave of my mother and on my friendship with your daughter that I will _never_ hurt you.” She relaxed, her knife back in its sheath.

“Shiana?” she whispered, “Is she safe?” he nodded. She gingerly touched the stitches on his swollen arm, and smiled. “Her work. You are with her?” Another nod. “Keep her safe.”

“I will.”

            “Slaves! Fight!” Keith turned to the crowd and the commander.

            “No.” Just that one word, that one, quiet no, and the crowd fell entirely silent.

            “What did you say?” Shiana’s mother stepped up next to him and slipped her hand into his.

            “He said no. We won’t fight. No matter what you say.” A soldier came with his whip.

            “Fight!”

The two prisoners spoke as one. “No.” The soldier raised the whip.

            “Last warning!” Keith saw where the whip was heading and shoved Shiana’s mother behind him as the whip cracked on thin air. The soldier’s reflexes were fast, however, and a blow hit him right on the swelling of his left arm. He screamed. The Galra raised the whip again to strike before pausing.

            “Ready to fight yet?”

            “Never.” The whip sang through the air to land another blow. The crowd was screaming. Apparently, this was more entertaining than the fights. He heard the crack again and he dropped to his knees, waiting, willing the pain to stop. He heard the whistle, but the blow never came. Shiana’s mother had caught the whip, curling it around her wrist without any damage to herself. She uttered a savage cry, a cry Keith heard echoed back form the cells, probably by all of the people of Shiana’s planet, Neco. Her knife stabbed at the Galra, and he jerked away. There was banging on the cells and guards were sent to deal with the rebellion. The soldier regained control of the whip and cracked it again. Another couple of guards came for Keith, who was powerless to resist. One of them held him up as the other one whistled for Shiana’s mother’s attention. She put the Galra soldier into a headlock and put her knife to his throat. One of the guards did the same with Keith. The two groups just stood there for a minute, both sides daring the other to do it.

            “You won’t,” said Shiana’s mother with satisfaction filling every syllable of her words, “You need him to open the particle barrier on the lion. But I will if you don’t release him.” The soldier dropped the knife.

            “Yes, but he doesn’t need to be in one piece to take down the particle barrier.” Shiana’s mother realized exactly what he was doing a second before he did it.

            “Filius canorum!” She spun the stunned guard away from herself and ran back across the arena, knife at the ready. Too late. The sting of the whip. He held in a scream. Again. Again. He couldn’t see anything. Everything was blurred. The lash of the whip. He couldn’t hold it back anymore. He screamed. Shiana’s mother was right there, but the remaining Galra soldier was holding her back. He screamed again.

            Shiana’s head jerked up. She could hear Keith. She could hear her mother’s guttural scream of rage. Keith screamed again.

            Lance pressed his hands over his ears, tears streaming from his eyes. Hunk had his arms protectively over his teammate, but he, too could hear the screams, Lance knew. _His fault, his fault, his fault._

           Shiro roared and shook the bars. Somehow his arm had been deactivated, or they would already be back at the castle. They had to let him out! He could hear Keith, he had to help him, had to protect him. Pidge was next to him, shaking the bars with all her puny strength.

            “Zan! Zan!” Shiana yelled as loud as she could. He had to hear, had to come. She heard the patter of feet, and Zan’s concerned face came into view.

            “I shouldn’t be here,” he hissed.

            “I know, but please, you have to let me out.” Another scream sounded, and Zan winced.

            “Yeah, I do, don’t I? That,” he pointed to the area of the arena, “is really inhumane, even by normal Galra standards.” He unlocked the cell and she hugged him.

            “Thank you, Zan. I promise I won’t forget this.” She rushed down the hallway. He sneaked back to his barracks.

            Shiana burst into the arena, punching the Galra in the face. Keith could see her arguing with the commander, but all the sound was muted. He felt gentle hands picking him up and carrying him away. Gentle hands that put his battered body into the welcome sleep of a cyro pod. He mentally sighed in relief as the welcome sleep came upon him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that, ladies and gentlemen was the dark part. now we can have lightheartedish fun! Until I decide I want angst again. So, Shiana's planet name is basically Latin for to kill or murder, which I thought was right for the occasion. Also, Shiana's mom called the guards sons of dogs. again, take that however you want.


	4. Escape

Chapter 4: Escape

            “Oh! Hello, I’m glad you’re awake.” Keith blinked dazedly at the doctor who was holding him, him having tumbled out of the cyro pod into his arms.

            “What…”

            “Don’t worry. You were in the arena, and your little friend was rescuing you. I walked in, saw what was happening and brought you here.”

            “Thank you?”

            “It’s alright. I am Dr. Javert. I am a researcher.” Keith scrambled away from him. His face darkened. “I see you have met Dr. Formaine. It’s fine, I won’t turn you over to him. He likes to experiment on things, which I do not think is right, while I like to observe people and animals in their natural habitat.” He sighed. “One of the things I hate most about the war. If you make people slaves, no scientific research is possible! What is the point!”

            “To plunder a planet of all its resources and strip it bare to add to your wealth.” Keith stated this bluntly. The doctor winced.

            “Yes, but we could do that by just leaving them alone and demanding a fraction of their wealth instead of all of it.” He opened a door. Inside were a bunch of… hybrids? They looked like a motley crew of Galra-alien hybrids.

            “Hello everybody! We have a new addition today! This is Keith. He’s half human.” Keith shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. This was starting to sound way too much like getting added into a new foster care group.

            “Half human? I heard of that one!” Yep. Even in space foster cares his reputation preceded him. “Isn’t he the one who was… organically created?” She sniffed. She looked to be half Balmeran. Keith glowered at her, sure that being “organically created” was not a good thing here.

            “Now, now. You remember what I told you. You can’t judge people by how they were created. After all, most people would not quite understand you, you having been created in a petri dish by Dr. Formaine.” He turned to Keith. “This is where Dr. Formaine’s genetic experiments go when he’s done with them. I take care of them.”

            “So, day-care for hybrids?”

            “I suppose that’s one way of putting it, yes.” The door hissed open and Dr. Formaine swaggered in. All of the other hybrids gasped and ran for cover, hiding behind whatever would keep their bodies from view. Dr. Formaine pointed at Keith.

            “I need that one.”

            “No, you remember what I told you. You can’t take anyone out of this room if they don’t want to go.” Dr. Javert protectively stepped forward. “Once they’re in this room they are protected from you.” Dr. Formaine shoved him aside.

            “Oh, hush, old man. I just need a blood sample. Keith growled at him in a feral way. He stopped. “Oh, I see you haven’t changed a bit.” He advanced on him, some of the hybrids trying to help Dr. Javert up. Keith smacked the syringe out of his hands and crushed it under his foot.

            “Get out of here.” Dr. Formaine’s eyes glinted.

            “Do you know what happened to your little mind reading friend? Fifty lashes for both her and her mother. I wish you could have heard their screams.” Keith roared and leaped on him, punching every bit of his face he could. Dr. Formaine bellowed and two soldiers ran in, pulling Keith off of Dr. Formaine. Dr. Formaine got up, wiping blood off his mouth while watching Keith with a glint of satisfaction in his eye as he struggled against the soldiers.

            “My, my, such violent tendencies. I think you owe me a little blood for what you took from me. Keith stopped struggling and crossed his arms, glaring at the scientist. He had baited him, played him like an instrument. Shiana was fine. And now the soldiers could give testimony that, indeed he had attacked Dr. Formaine and deserved to be punished. The nasty scientist pulled out a spare syringe and poked Keith with it in a vein, not even pretending to be trying to be gentle. Keith just glared. The soldiers and the scientist left and Keith just sat in a corner and glared at everything, like he always had, before Voltron, and Shiana, had come into his life.

            “Come on.” Shiana jumped to her feet.

            “What’s going on? Where am I going? Where’s Keith?” The soldier ignored her, just handcuffed her and dragged her out. She could see the same happening to all of the paladins. Lance was just drooping, his guards dragging him along. Poor Lance. He had already been blaming himself for them all being captured, she knew, and Keith’s screams must have finally driven him over the edge. She could see the tracks of tears through the grime on his face.

            “Ah, miss mind reader, I have a job for you.” The commander was sitting in a chair, a beat up looking green alien tied up near him.

            “What makes you think I would help you?” He ignored her.

            “This alien has been part of a rebellion, and we want his secrets. You are going to tell us those secrets.”

            “Or what?”

            “Or we hurt your friends. Starting with, oh, that one.” He pointed to Lance.

            “Go ahead.” Shiro could see her formulating a plan in her head, one to keep them all out of danger. One she would regret later.

            “Excuse me?”

            “I don’t care. I don’t like any of them. Gotta keep up my façade of liking them, but at this point I don’t care. He,” she continued, pointing at Lance, “is always flirting 24/7, all the time, so annoying. He,” Hunk, “is always trying to hug, to make it better, personal space please. She,” Pidge of course, “is always in my way, talks way too much. He,” Shiro himself, “is always bossing us around. _Always._ Non-stop. Gives _way_ too many pep-talks.”

            “We can always get the red paladin.”

            “Keith? Oooh, don’t even get me started on him. Always grumpy, never listens, impulsive.”

            “Well, there is another person. One we _know_ you love. After all, you staged a rebellion to rescue him.” Shiana gasped.

            “Shang? Don’t you _dare._ ”

            “Ah, I see that got a reaction. Bring him out. Lead the others back to their cells. A Neconian, one of Shiana’s people, was dragged in. The soldiers dragged the paladin’s out.

            Lance’s mind whirled. Staged a rebellion for him. _B- my planet._ B. Boyfriend. He’d been flirting with a taken girl. How clueless could he be? No wonder she always looked so sad when he flirted! She already had a boyfriend, who she’d left behind, and Lance had been flirting with her. He felt like an idiot. Suddenly, the soldiers released him. And charged down the hallway.

            “Hey! Get back here, you!” Lance squinted. There was nobody down there. Then it hit him like a truck. Shiana had mind tricked them. They apparently thought Lance was heading down the hallway and were chasing after him. He turned back to the door. They had left maybe five minutes ago. Not long enough for anything to have happened, right? Shiro put his hand on the door lock and it opened. Inside all of the Galra were fighting each other, and although Shiana was still handcuffed she was smiling smugly. Her boyfriend had only one whip mark. They freed her, the rebellion member and Shang. They ran out the door, Shiana locking it so the Galra were stuck inside. Their armor and bayards had been in there and Pidge had grabbed it. Hunk held Keith’s for him. Shang turned to Shiana.

“I’m sorry, Shiana, I need to stay.”

“What? They’ll punish you for our escape!”

“Yes, but if I go, they’ll punish mom, and I don’t think she’ll survive that. I’m sorry, I really am, but I have to stay for her sake.” Shiana nodded and hugged him with tears in her eyes. Mom? Lance wondered how serious this was. Was Shiana… married? They set off to look for the red paladin, Shang left behind as he ran back to the cells.

            Keith could hear the alarms blaring, and his heart raced. His friends were coming for him! Something rattled in the pipes. Everybody looked that way. A black clad figure Keith’s height and build dropped from the ceiling and motioned for them to stay silent. Then he clocked Dr. Javert over the head, and he collapsed, unconscious. He started towards Keith. No way was he going to go down without a fight. He raised his fists and started throwing punches. His attacker, however, somehow knew exactly what he was going to do before he did it and blocked every punch. He landed one of his own, right in Keith’s chest, and the red paladin doubled over, all the breath knocked out of him. A following karate chop to his neck, and Keith dropped like a stone.

            “Hey, guys!” Shiana jumped. Keith was hanging out of an air duct.

            “How are you even fitting in there,” she demanded, “You’re not huge, but that duct is tiny!” He winced.

            “Yeah, I’m, ah, stuck. Little help please?” Hunk grabbed his arms and pulled. He popped out of the duct and into Hunk’s arms.

            “Man, it is great to see you!” Keith grunted.

            “Okay, can you let me go?” Hunk released him and gave him his bayard and armor, which he quickly donned.

            “Alright, paladins! Let’s get to the lions!” Each of the paladins went their own way, except, of course, Keith and Shiana went the same way. They ran through the hallways until they ran right into a guard who was about to com his commander. He froze.

            “Zan?”

            “Oh, uh hi.” He looked a little nervous, probably because Keith had a murderous look on his face.

            “Keith, calm down. Zan, I know you’re scared of dying because you failed, but please, please, don’t tell.” Zan raised the com to his mouth. Shiana sorrowfully readied her gloves.

            “My section is all clear, I repeat, my section is all clear. Can I come with you?” Shiana threw her arms around him.

            “Yes! Thank you! Of course you can come!”

            “No. no he can’t. We can’t trust him.” Shiana turned on Keith.

            “Keith! Zan helped us more than you know! It is fine for him to come. Zan, you know these halls better than I do. Where are they keeping the lions?”

            “I’ll show you. Come on.” He led them through the halls, ducking patrols and sneaking past soldiers. They hit a storage room where the red lion was, and instantly were fired on. Keith swung his sword around in an arch, taking down the robots. Shiana fired cackling balls of electricity and they shorted out. Soon they were all gone. And so was Zan.

            “Zan? Where’d you go?”

            “Knew we couldn’t trust him.” Zan’s head popped up from behind a pile of crates.

            “What are you doing back there?”

            “Oh, hiding.”

            “Why weren’t you fighting with us?”

            “Oh, yeah, I don’t like fighting. Never really saw anything worth fighting for.”

            “How about your life,” growled Keith, “Isn’t that worth the effort?” Zan shrugged.

            “My life is worthless. At least, that’s what every commander I ever had always told me. So, guess not.” They just stared at him for a moment.

            “Okay, Red, open up.” The particle barrier shut down and Red roared. She scooped up both of her paladins in her mouth, Zan barely managing to climb in before she went up.

            _Don’t you ever do that to me again!_

“Sorry, Red.”

            _No! Sorry doesn’t cut it! You owe me lots of time and also you_ will _let Hunk pamper you both. Understand?_

“Understood.” She growled angrily and let Keith pilot her back to the castle, to Coran, Allura and rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zan and Hunk are adorable cinnamon rolls who should be hugged and loved until the end of time. So, I was trying to be symbolic back in hybrid day care, like, without Voltron and the other paladins, Keith turns back into a bitter moody teenager. Kudos to you if you caught that.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing that made me depressed and happy at the same time.


End file.
